Taj Mahal opens with all COVID-19 norms in place

 

Taj Mahal

After being shut for tourists for around six months, one of the seven wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal reopened from Monday.

It was closed on March 17 after all heritage monuments protected under the Archeological Survey of India, after discussion with the Union ministry of culture, were asked to close for the visitors following the rapid outbreak of SARS-CoV-2.

One of the first few visitors to step inside the Taj Mahal's premises Debargha Sengupta, 25 arrived in Prayagraj on September 19 for SSB exam and later took a train to Agra to visit the monument for the first time ever.

"The government locker room was closed for which I had to keep my luggage in a private shop but as I took entry and saw Taj Mahal for the first time ever I remained speechless. It is mesmeric. Moreover, less crowd had added more essence of its majestic presence," he said.

Another visitor Nishant Vasisht said, "It's incredible and historical at the same time. This is the first time ever that Taj was shut for six months. We are here to witness the change. The new normal has to be expected and adopted for our good. I have come with my family, stood in the queue, got digital tickets, and all set to see Taj."

Shefali a guide by profession said, "We were allowed inside only after the guards checked our body temperature. Shoe sanitizers are there at the entry point. It feels great. There is not much crowd at this time (around 6:30 am) so the scene will be different."

To keep up with the COVID guidelines, the site has imprinted norms saying not more than 5,000 visitors are allowed in a day. Also, group photographs are not at all encouraged.

Guards are keeping strict vigil so that tourists do not touch the railing and walls of the monument and used tissue paper, mask, gloves shoe covers are dumped in the dustbin.

Although most of the historical sites under ASI were opened, Agra Fort and Taj Mahal remained closed as it fell under the containment zone.

A scientist's quick animation reveals that Earth has two types of day. Humans use the one that's 4 minutes longer.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this view of Earth from the spacecraft's vantage point in orbit around the moon.

• An animation by planetary scientist James O'Donoghue reveals that Earth has two types of the day: sidereal days and solar days.
• The sidereal day happens each time Earth completes a 360-degree rotation. That takes 23 hours and 56 minutes.
• The solar day — the one humans count in the calendar — happens when Earth spins just a little further, and the sun is at the same point in the sky as it was 24 hours ago.
• We count 365 days in a year even though Earth spins 366 times.

How long does it take Earth to complete a 360-degree rotation? Not quite 24 hours, it turns out — it's precisely 23 hours and 56 minutes.

But because Earth is constantly moving along its orbit around the sun, a different point on the planet faces the sun directly at the end of that 360-degree spin. For the sun to reach the exact same position in the sky, Earth has to rotate 1 degree further.

That's how humans have chosen to measure days: not by the Earth's exact rotation, but the position of the sun in the sky.

Technically, these are two different types of day. A day measured by the completion of a 360-degree rotation is called the sidereal day. A day based on the position of the sun, however, is a solar day. The latter is four minutes longer than the former, making the even 24 hours we're used to.

"It's only because we move around the sun in an orbit that the solar day takes 24 hours," James O'Donoghue, a planetary scientist at the Japanese space agency (JAXA), told Business Insider. "If we didn't orbit the sun, both days would be the same."

He made the below animation to show how this works.

Because we go by solar days in our calendars, we count 365 days in a year. But Earth actually completes a full rotation (a sidereal day) 366 times per year.

O'Donoghue describes the difference between these two types of the day as a matter of choosing which background object we use as a basis of comparison for Earth's rotation. A full rotation relative to the position of the sun is a solar day. A full rotation relative to all the other stars we see is a sidereal day.

If we used the sidereal day instead, "the sun would rise about four minutes earlier every day," O'Donoghue said. "After six months of doing this, the sun would be rising 12 hours earlier."

He added: "We've decided to tie our daily rhythm to the sun, not the stars. In fact, the stars rise about four minutes earlier every day because of our choice."

A Mining Company Blew Up A 46,000-Year-Old Aboriginal Site. Its CEO Is Resigning

 

                            Juukan Gorge cave site before and after mining works

Mining giant Rio Tinto is parting ways with its chief executive as it tries to quell public anger over the company's destruction of a 46,000-year-old sacred Aboriginal site in Australia.

In May, the company blasted through two rock shelters in Juukan Gorge in Western Australia in order to mine iron ore. Evidence of human habitation there dates back tens of millennia.

The destruction in the Pilbara region was not illegal under Australian law, according to local media reports. Rio Tinto obtained permission to mine in the area in 2013, "a right which was not affected by the discovery of ancient artefacts such as stone relics, faunal remains and human hair in one of the Juukan caves a year later," Australia's ABC noted.

But "what happened at Juukan was wrong," the company's chairman, Simon Thompson, said in a statement Friday. "We are determined to ensure that the destruction of a heritage site of such exceptional archaeological and cultural significance never occurs again at a Rio Tinto operation."

Jean-Sébastien Jacques, the company's chief executive and executive director, will depart by "mutual agreement," Rio Tinto said. He'll remain in the role until a replacement is found or by March 31, whichever comes first.

Two other high-ranking executives, iron-ore division head Chris Salisbury and corporate relations head Simone Niven, are also leaving the company.

A month after the destruction in Juukan Gorge, the company issued an apology and said it would support strengthening legal protections for Aboriginal heritage sites.

Last month, after a board review, Rio Tinto stripped the three executives of performance-related bonuses for this year. That review concluded that even though the company had legal permission, its actions "fell short of the Standards and internal guidance that Rio Tinto sets for itself."

Friday's announcement came after "significant stakeholders have expressed concerns about executive accountability," according to the company.

"We are also determined to regain the trust of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people and other Traditional Owners," Thomson said.

Critics of Rio Tinto say there is abundant evidence that the company was aware of the site's importance before the blasting. For example, as the BBC reported, "last week it was revealed that in the days running up to the caves' destruction in May, Rio Tinto hired lawyers in case opponents tried to seek injunctions to stop them."

The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation released a statement saying their people had no comment on the executive shakeup, ABC reported.

"We will continue to work with Rio Tinto in the aftermath of the Juukan Gorge disaster," the statement said.

"Our focus continues to rest heavily on preserving Aboriginal heritage and advocating for wide-ranging changes to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again."

Jamie Lowe is the chief executive of the National Native Title Council, which advocates for Australia's traditional owners of the land. He said the group welcomes the changes at the top of Rio Tinto, but stressed there is more to be done.

"We do fear that if this is the behaviour of a company thought to have sector-leading standards, what is the risk another Juukan Gorge-type incident will happen again, without sector-wide reforms?" Lowe said in a statement.

He said Rio Tinto has so far refused to carry out an independent review of what led to the destruction — a step that the traditional owners see as critical to prevent further losses to priceless Indigenous sites.